The small bar was at the far end of the dining room and could be closed off with a wall made from folding French doors when the main dining area wasn’t in use. I heard Zach before I saw him. He was muttering to himself and moving bottles around on the shelves behind the bar. I paused to admire the view. The man was beautifully muscled but not gym-honed. I knew he worked full-time as a mechanic, so those were muscles made by hard work. He was also in the Army National Guard, so he probably did a lot to keep himself fit. A couple of tattoos peeked out from under the short sleeves of his Moonlight Inn polo, but since I had never seen him in a sleeveless shirt, I didn’t know what they were. My eyes drifted down to his very fine ass encased in a pair of dark-blue chinos. Why, oh why, did he have to be straight?
He must have seen me coming in the mirror behind the bar because he turned around and said, “Hey, Miguel. I guess Carrie told you the good news.”
“Yeah, she told me,” I replied. “I’ll probably have to go local and pick up what we’re short.” I sighed. “Which means I’ll have to call Mr. O’Neil on his day off.”
Zach grunted. “We should find a new distributor. This isn’t the first time they’ve missed a delivery.”
I nodded. “I’ll suggest it when I talk to him. For now, let’s make a list.”
I sat on a stool at the bar while Zach went through our meager inventory. I winced at the final tally. Mr. O’Neil would not be happy about having to pay retail prices for that much alcohol. I sighed. This day just kept getting better and better.
I was about to leave when Zach put his large hand over mine. Startled, I looked up to see him frowning at me with concern. “Are you okay?” he asked. “You don’t seem like your usual self this morning.”
I blinked in surprise and my stupid eyes started to burn. Damn him for being so observant. “I had a rough morning before I got here,” I said quietly. I shook my head. “I thought I was doing a pretty good job hiding it.”
Zach brushed his thumb briefly under my eye. “I noticed because your eyeliner is smudged, and it looks like you’ve been crying.”
I froze for a second. The whole time I’d known him, Zach had never touched me. He was always reserved, almost shy in his interactions with me. I thought the makeup confused him. Now, he was acting like a man wearing makeup was no big deal. And he paid enough attention to me to notice when I wasn’t acting like myself. I swallowed hard, trying to hold back the stupid, stupid tears. “Well, shit.”
“Do you want to talk about it,” he asked gently. He smiled crookedly. “My sister says I’m a pretty good listener.”
Did I want to talk about it? Normally, I would call my bestie, Albert. But he’d been up late last night doing a drag show, and he’d still be in bed. Liam was probably still sleeping after banging his hot Navy SEAL. But damn it, I needed to vent to someone if I was going to make it through the rest of the day. “Okay, but I’m going to need tissues.”
Zach leaned down and reached under the bar, coming up with a box of tissues and a small mirror on a stand. “That way, you can fix your eyeliner when you’re done,” he said.
Why the hell did this man have to be straight?
CHAPTERTHREE
ZACH
I couldn’t ever remember seeing Miguel this upset. He was always so put together and confident. This version of him twisted me up inside. When he told me about his conversation with his sister, I got pissed off for him. That was a pretty shitty thing for her to do to someone who’d been babysitting her kids for free.
Miguel held a crumpled tissue in his hand. “The worst part is thinking I might never see the kids again. I’ve been in their lives since Diego was born. After Sofia was born, Isabella had complications and had to stay in the hospital for five days.” His mouth pulled into a sneer. “God forbid His Royal Highness Carlos should take time off to take care of his own son. I took a week off work to take care of Diego and help Isabella when she came home from the hospital.”
Fresh tears came to his eyes as he went on. “I’m so angry at my sister right now. She knows what I went through in high school. She was a junior when I was a freshman.” He waved his hand up and down his body. “There was no way to hide all this fabulousness, so I got bullied a lot.”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I lifted the flap and went around to the front of the bar. I opened my arms and said, “You look like you could use a hug.”
Miguel looked surprised. His bottom lip trembled, and he nodded. He slipped off the bar stool and wrapped his arms around my waist. I put my arms around him. He was slender but solid. He was taller than my sister but still on the short side, only making it to my shoulder. But still, he fit somehow. “Thank you,” he murmured into my chest.
“No problem,” I said. “You’re such a nice person. I hate to see you hurting like this.”
We both just stood there in silence for a few minutes. Finally, he moved back and said, “I’d better get on the phone with Mr. O’Neil. He needs to approve the purchase. He’s going to be pissed.” He looked up at me. His eyes were still puffy and red from crying and his eyeliner was a smudged mess. “I really appreciate you taking the time to listen. We should go out for a drink sometime.” He looked around the bar. “Just not here.”
I laughed. “That would seem too much like work. But yeah, I would like that.”
Miguel nodded. “Good. I’ll be back in a little bit with the booze. The liquor store is just up the road.”
“All right,” I said. “I’ll hold down the fort until then.”
Miguel started to walk out of the bar, then turned back and grabbed the small mirror. “I’m just going to borrow this. I’ll bring it back before I leave for the store.”
It took me a minute to realize I was watching him leave. I blinked and shook my head. I couldn’t figure out what it was about Miguel that fascinated me.
* * *
Miguel got backwith the alcohol just as the dining room was filling up. He even stayed to help me put the bottles up so I could get it done faster. He seemed to be back to his usual cheerful, put-together self. His eyeliner was picture-perfect, and it looked like he’d added a little mascara. After we finished putting away the booze, I leaned down and said, “You look nice.”
